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Pete's swim blog

My Team
I swim on a small team (Madison Titans) with 4 regulars and a couple others that can't make the morning workout. On Saturdays and occasional weekdays, I drop by HSA in Huntsville for a swim in the big pool.

Swam w/ Roger and Dave. Haven't complained about pool temperatures lately. That's because the boiler has been broken and the temp has been in the low 80s all summer. Unfortunately, they "fixed" the boiler a couple days ago. By "fixed" I mean solved the problem AND turned it up all the way. Monday, pool temp had actually dropped to 79. Today, it was 85 and climbing. I'll acclimate and get over it. Until then, I'll have to deal w/ slower times.

Swam w/ Roger, Jonny, Chris and Andrey. Chris and Andrey are High School Swimmers joining us. I don't really have much chance against them in short swims but I can keep up for workouts. Lucky for me, I don't have to come back for another workout this afternoon like they do.

SCY

600 Warmup

8 x 75 - :59, :58, :57, ... :52
100 Easy
I got off the clock somewhere by 2 seconds but I held the pace through the set. Finished at :26 instead of :24. I think I messed up around #4 or #5.

400 IM Kick - 7:00
4 x 100 Pull - 1:20
400 IM Kick - 7:00
4 x 100 Pull - 1:20
400 IM Kick - 7:00
100 Easy
Dropped the drag suit for this set. Made the kick on 6:45 or so. Probably should have left the drag suit on but it gave me time to switch to paddles.

400 timed pull (4:18)
50 Easy
Kind of disappointed in this since I didn't have my drag suit. I had one bad entry early in the pull that messed up my right paddle but I should still be quicker than this.

6 x 50 - :45
Rest
1200 Free @ 1:15 Pace - Each of us took a turn up front with the rest drafting. 1st swimmer swam 150, moved out of the way while others passed and then joined the end of the line. 2nd swimmer led next 300 yards w/ an open turn halfway through to check the pace. 3rd and 4th swimmers did the same. First swimmer finished the last 150.
50 Easy

20 minutes of pursuit set. Roger and I started at opposite ends of the pool. We did 25 pull (no paddles)/25 kick until one of us caught the other. Roger's flutter kick is faster than my breaststroke kick but he can't keep going forever. This was a matter of being patient and letting him wear himself out. I finally started catching up after 8 minutes and caught him at about 10. Next round, he got to choose - 25 back/25 kick. I really had no chance here. After a few hundred yards, he had chased me down. Final round, I got to choose - 25 pull/25 breast. Ended in a draw. Neither of us were making any gains on the other when 20 minutes ran out. Overall, I'm assuming we held a 1:30 pace for 1350 total yards. We probably did a little more than that but it was very difficult to count yardage on this set.

10 x 100 - 3:00, sprint
Started at a low 1:01 and held mid-1:02s through 5 of these. Switched to paddles and did :59s. On the last one, I dropped the paddles and did a 1:01.5. Really painful set. It is amazing how fast that clock moves after a hard 100.

3 x 75 - 1:30, 1st 25 kick
8 x 50 IM Order - 1:00, from dive off blocks
4 x 75 - 1:05, convert free -> fly
25 easy kick
50 Easy
That's 24 starts off the blocks, 18 of which we had to climb out of the pool. That started to hurt after a while but I was able to stay ahead of the pace. Some of my dives were pretty sloppy due to fatigue.

6 x 200, odds free @ 2:30, evens IM @ 3:00
Roger led these which helped a lot. Drafted for a fairly easy 2:25 free and made 2:40-2:45 on the IM.

Swam w/ Dave. Ate waaaaay too many hot wings last night. Hot wings are not swim practice food. It felt like I had hot sauce and grease flowing through my veins once my heart rate started picking up. After the first set, I felt better. Maybe I sweat it all out into the pool? That would explain the oil sheen on the surface of the water when we got out.

16 x 25 - :40, choice (I did IM order, odds no breath)
1:00 Rest (more like a 3:00 hot wings break)
400 Timed pull - 4:35
100 Easy
The pull was pretty bad. I was on track for a 4:20 or so but with 75 to go, my paddle entered the water wrong. The paddle ended up twisting 2 or three times and loosened the strap. Once it untwisted, it was too loose to stay on my hand. I ended up limping to the end of the pool and fixing it.

Swam w/ Dave, Dave and Jonny. Jonny is staying with us from Scotland for a few weeks to train coaches and players in our AYSO soccer region. This is his off day so he swam w/ us, got back home and fell asleep. I'm not quite so fortunate. He's a pretty good swimmer but hasn't competed in 10 years. He hung in there for a while but his conditioning isn't quite ready for a 90 minute workout. Speaking of which, the workout was shorter today due to a lot more kicking. We just ran out of time at the end.

Swam Saturday at HSA with Dave, Dave, Bob, Mary, Don and a couple others. Had a good swim and was a bit faster than I usually am on Saturdays. I did a little more than 5K total. This morning, I swam w/ Dave, Dave, Roger and Meredith. Felt sluggish at first after soccer yesterday. Eventually picked it up and had a good day. I was really happy w/ the IM even if I was drafting.

SCY

600 Warm up

2 x 100 Free - 1:30
2 x 100 IM - 1:30
2 x 100 Free - 1:30
1:00 Rest
5 x 200 IM - Odds @ 2:45, Evens @ 3:15
100 Easy
The IM was supposed to be all on 2:45. We decided to do odds free on 2:45 and evens IM on 3:15. At the last moment, Roger decided to go all IM. I told him I'd do it but he would have to lead the lane. Surprisingly, I made it and with some rest. The trick was closing the 5 second gap on fly and drafting the rest of the way. I still gave up a lot on backstroke but I was making 2:40s. On the 3:15 interval, I was going fairly easy and still making 3:00.

Swam w/ Dave and Meredith. Dave B and Roger dropped by for a quick swim in prep for their triathlon. Felt decent today.

SCY

600 Warm up

5 x 100 - 1:30 odds IM, evens stroke
100 Easy

4 Rounds of:
* 2 x 50 Stroke - :45 (did these IM Order by round)
* 2 x 50 Easy free - :45
* 2 x 50 Kick - 1:00 (did these IM Order by round)
* 2 x 50 Easy kick - 1:00
* 2 x 50 Hard Pull - :45
* 2 x 50 Easy Pull - :45
* 300 - 4:30, Convert free -> stroke by round
100 Easy
The original interval for the 300 was 4:00. We dropped it back so we could make it. I did breaststroke. Dave and Meredith did fly. I kept up with the flyers and was actually pulling away from them at 150 yards. At 200 yards, I hit a wall and started having problems on my pull-outs. They both blew past me on the last 25. Ended up making 4:25.

Swam yesterday with Meredith and Dave. Dave B and Roger came in later and did a broken 400 in preparation for a sprint triathlon they are doing this weekend. I put in 5K total, most of which came in 6 rounds of: (4x50 IM Order @ :50 + 2x200 pull @ 2:20 + 1:00 Rest) Today, I swam w/ Dave. Dave B showed up later in full triathlon gear. He looked pretty fancy with his new red TYR tri-jammer nicely coordinated with his cycling jersey and red highlighted running shoes. I'm pretty sure he will be fast but if he isn't, at least he has the looking fast part of it down.

Speaking of cool new stuff, I got my yearly GTD Nike swim suit in the mail yesterday for making 500 miles. Looks like I've held on to my sponsorship deal for another year. Wake up TYR and Speedo! Yet again, I'll be sporting a Nike swoosh on my left hip instead of your brands. My agent is standing by for your call.

4 Rounds of (For each 100, pick from Fly, Breast, IM, Free, Free <- free is on the list twice)
* 100 pick - 1:30 (did first round fly, other rounds breast)
* 100 pick - 1:25 (did IM)
* 100 pick - 1:20 (did free)
* 100 pick - 1:15 (did free)
100 Easy
Dropped my drag suit for this set. After round 1, I was hoping Dave would stop and we would just hold off each round until the clock came back to the top. After round 2, I started feeling better. After round 3, I knew I could make it. Definitely would have been a struggle with a drag suit on.

Swam solo today. Did 4700 yds w/ Mary and Bob on Saturday at HSA. Pretty much expected no turnout on Labor Day. Dave and Roger are resting for triathlons. We didn't make plans to meet at a different time since the pool was opening late today. Didn't feel bad for a solo swim. At times, I was almost self motivated.

Swam w/ Dave, Dave and Roger. Felt weak and tired through most of the workout. My times were OK though. Not sure why that is. I did play soccer for 90 min last night. Maybe I'm just a little worn out from that.

500 Timed Pull (5:32)
I was a bit surprised at this. The 12 50s felt awful even though I had a couple fast 50s. Dave led the way through the first 150. I pulled even and started building a lead by 250 yards. Dave caught the clock after 300 while taking his first breath on the 13th length. He said were were ahead of 3:20 when he checked. By then I was a couple body lengths ahead but hurting very badly. At 400 yards, I was questioning whether or not I could finish. Somehow I kept it going and had enough lead to hold off Dave (for once). My arms were tingling when I was done... almost like they were going numb. Never felt that before and decided to cool down.

Swam w/ Dave, Dave, Dave and Bob Saturday at the Huntsville NAT. Sam headed back to school Friday. We will probably get a couple high school swimmers looking for doubles next week. It has been a decent week. I'm getting used to 5k/day again. Backstroke is improving but still weak. Some of my breaststroke changes are starting to pay off as well. I'm getting my hips forward and hands out faster which is helping me set up a longer glide.

Friday (SCY)

600 Warm up

100 IM/200 IM/300 IM/400 IM, open turns at the end of each IM. If :10 seconds ahead of the 100 pace, substituted free for stroke.
50 Easy